Caprice salvage sale

[elc32955]

I watch the insurance auctions as sometimes wrecked Caprices do come up for sale and it's always nice to know what salvage yards might have potential parts. Anyway, I was browsing today and saw this sale....

http://www.copart.com/c2/homeSearch.htm ... ESULTS#top

Car took a pretty good hit but it didn't blow the bags. The pics also give you an idea of some of the disassembly detail, things you'll find if you remove certain parts like the back seat for instance.

Enjoy!
Eric

[storm9c1]

Cool. I search that same site from time to time for the same reason. I was wondering when a wrecked one would show up.

That hit looks hard enough to set off the airbags, so I suspect this car was parked (or unoccupied in some way) when it was hit.

Funny thing about the Caprices, when I was at the MSP testing and asked the GM engineers there about the strength of the unibody versus a BOF (body on frame) car, they claimed this unibody had a rigid passenger compartment area, where other areas are softer to allow the metal to absorb impact. In the same conversation, they also claimed the entire front clip can be unbolted and replaced by removing "a few bolts" (LOL!). Apparently this was supposed to allow the car to be easily repaired after accidents like that one by removing the front clip as a FRU. Perhaps the PD didn't get that memo. Or perhaps it's a load of hogwash.

I've also read articles that explained that the new Caprice does NOT extensively use the latest "ultra high strength steel" technologies (as opposed to what GM marketing leads us to believe), and this is why the car is so heavy. Apparently many manufacturers are switching to high strength steel and putting less steel into cars for this reason, making them lighter but supposedly just as safe. I'm not entirely sold on this concept yet since it's too easy to lie about it. It's a great revolution in steel making, but I'll still take steel that I can physically see rather than what's on paper, unless I can see the finite element analysis simulation of the components myself.

If I can dig up the article that mentioned the steel and the Caprice, I'll post it here.

[elc32955]

Another wreck on Copart. 2012 9C1 with 9K miles on the clock, Tampa. 6.0 version.

http://www.copart.com/c2/homeSearch.htm ... CH_RESULTS

Good rear end hit, right wheel is bent around. Clean front clip and interior it looks like.

Eric

[Tom Slick]

Would love to get the radio and HVAC control panel!

Later,
Tom Slick

[storm9c1]

Another wreck on Copart. 2012 9C1 with 9K miles on the clock, Tampa. 6.0 version.

http://www.copart.com/c2/homeSearch.htm ... CH_RESULTS

Good rear end hit, right wheel is bent around. Clean front clip and interior it looks like.

Eric

I'm impressed at how well this car took that hit. It demolished the trunk but the passenger compartment is unscathed. You can see that all of the force was well-distributed throughout the passenger compartment cage system after the trunk absorbed the initial impact. And this was an offset impact too. Dang I love these cars.

Traffic stops on busy interstate highways can be outright scary for law enforcement, so it's good to know that these cars can take a good rear-end hit.

[SBRMD]

Looks to me like the rear seat was pushed somewhat forward; the leg room between the seat and the cage looks a little tight....

[storm9c1]

Looks to me like the rear seat was pushed somewhat forward; the leg room between the seat and the cage looks a little tight....

Yeah, I was looking at that too. But it is perfectly even still. You'd think with an offset hit, it would be diagonal a little. I've read that once you outfit the new Caprice with the hard plastic seat and divider that there is much less room in the back seat. Kinda like what happens to a Crown Vic as well. Can anybody confirm?

[SBRMD]

Seems to have dissappeared; wonderwhat it sold for?